A man accused of killing nearly two dozen older women, and convicted of murdering two, was killed Tuesday morning, Sept. 19, by his cellmate at a Texas prison, an official said.
Billy Chemirmir, 50, was serving two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole when he was found dead in his cell, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Hannah Haney said.
Chemirmir’s cellmate, who is serving a sentence for murder, was identified as the assailant, but Haney said she couldn’t release the cellmate’s identity or how Chemirmir was killed.
Chemirmir, a former healthcare worker, allegedly killed 13 elderly women in their homes in Dallas County and nine women in Collin County, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Chemirmir is accused of smothering the women at their homes or senior centers and then stealing their jewelry to sell.
The deaths of many of the women were initially ruled as natural causes. Then one victim, Mary Bartel, 91, told cops that Chemirmir tried to smother her at a retirement center using a pillow and that he stole her jewelry after she fainted. That was when police re-opened their investigation into him, People reported.
Cops soon discovered Chemirmir outside his apartment throwing away a big red case and holding jewelry and money. Papers in the jewelry box led investigators to the home of Lu Thi Harris, 81, who was found dead the prior day with lipstick on her pillow.
Chemirmir was convicted of killings of Harris and Mary Brooks, 87.
He has insisted he is innocent.
“I am not a killer. I’m not at all what they’re saying I am. I am a very innocent person,” Chemirmir told the Dallas Morning News last year.
“I was not brought (up) that way. I was brought (up) in a good family. I didn’t have any problems all my life."
Victims’ families have been notified of Chemirmir’s death. Family members of Chemirmir’s victims who gathered at a news conference expressed shock and relief at the news.
“My mother died in fear. This man did not have a peaceful passing. There’s some relief in feeling that he didn’t get off easily,” said Shannon Dion, whose 92-year-old mother, Doris Gleason, was among those Chemirmir was charged with killing.
